Happy 71st Hunger Games!
by KatnissEverdeenTheGirlOnFire12
Summary: This is a stroy about a girl's story as she goes through the Hunger Games. It doesn't have anything to do with the real Hunger Games Series (no Katniss and Peeta, etc.) This is my first story EVER! It would really make my day if you guys would comment and give me suggestions! Thanks for reading! KatnissEverdeenTheGirlOnFire 12
1. Chapter 1

Sunlight streamed through the open window in my bedroom. Such a beautiful day, I thought, if only the reaping weren't today_. _I threw the bedclothes off me and swung my legs over the side of the bed and touched the smooth wood. We didn't have to be at the Justice Building until 2 so that meant that I still had to complete daily chores. I walked across the hall to the kitchen. Our house was small, not much bigger than one of the train cars that we manufactured here in District 6. We make beautiful trains and other means of transportation but have to send it all to the Capitol. I saw my mother and my twin brother Aden sitting at the table. "Good morning, Ruka." my mother said in a measured voice. Everyone was strained on Reaping Day, even the rich. Everyone is fair game on Reaping Day. I glance over at Aden, who looks like me, except for his hair, which is a muted red, while mine is as black as a raven's wing. We both have the same color eyes, piercing blue, and slightly tanned skin. It must be so hard for my mother, to watch two kids be put in the Reaping. I sat down at the table and ate an apple absentmindedly. We sometimes found apples lying on the side of the railroad tracks where cars and cars full of food passed by on the way to the Capitol.

After eating I changed into my comfortable training clothes and left the house. I walked for about an hour until I reached the slightly wooded area that encases our district. Then I waited. Finally, she showed up; her blonde hair tied behind her head. "Hello Ruka," she said.

"Abria! Glad you could make it!" I said. Abria and I have been meeting here for 3 years now. Ever since we were 13 we have secretly snuck away to train. We run and stretch and lift large stones to build our muscles. With the population being so small here in District 6, its highly probable that either of us could be reaped for the Games. We have seen so many people go into the Arena without any idea of what to do. I hate feeling helpless. Abria and I have both had hard lives. We were both made fun of at school, me for my uncharacteristic black hair and her for her family.

"What do you want to do today?" asked Abria.

"Considering this is Reaping Day there probably isn't a reason to train today. I how could that possibly help us. One day of training is no good," I say. We both stretch out on the ground and stare at the sky. The whole day is so unreal; as is every Reaping Day. "How many times is your name in today?" I asked Abria.

"23, how many times is your name in that jar?"

"40, too many. I expect to go in this year. My luck only stretches so far. At least if one of us goes in we are somewhat prepared. I mean, the Careers still have the big advantage..." I trail off. Everyone already knows what advantages the Careers have anyways. They win almost every year. They are trained for the Games their whole lives and by the time they reach the Arena they are extremely deadly.

"Let's head back," I say and then rising, hug Abria and jog back to my house, just in time to get ready to go the Reaping. I take a bath and brush out my hair so it falls around my face in a shiny black curtain around my well built frame. I look good and everyone knows it. My mother had given me her beautiful face with high cheekbones and beautiful lips. It was from my father that I got my black hair. I am dressed in a white dress that comes to my knees. I wish it was longer so it would cover my shaking knees, but no such luck. I come downstairs and without a word, walk with my brother to the Justice Building.

The Justice Building has been spruced up just for the occasion and the Peacekeepers with guns add a nice touch of murder. Fun, I think. I join the other 16 year old girls and try not to appear to nervous. I look at my brother just as a lady taps on the microphone, bringing us all to quiet. "Welcome, welcome to the 71st Hunger Games," she says. I believe the woman's name is Becky or something to that effect. "Lady's first." She reaches over into a glass bowl filled with 40 slips of paper with my name on it. Stay calm, stay calm, stay calm... I say to myself over and over again. Then I hear a name, a very familiar name. It's my own.

All the faces in the crowd turn and look at me. Me. Me. Me. My legs take me up to the stage and Becky shifts impatiently. "What's your name, dear?" she asks.

"Ruka," I say. My voice sounds detached, as if I'm not all the way there. That has to stop. I can't have the Capitol thinking I am scared out of my mind, even though I am.

"Now for the boys." Becky reaches her hand into the glass jar and slowly opens the tiny slip of paper. "Aden Damek." My legs feel like they will buckle beneath me. No...no...no...no...no my mind chants over and over and over again. My brother steps out from the crowd and makes his way toward the stage.

Then suddenly a boy steps out from the crowd and says in a deep voice, "I volunteer as tribute." I sigh in relief and stare at this strange boy. He is tall, slender, has olive skin, and jet black hair. I stare and stare and stare. He looks so similar to me its almost unnerving. I see Aden sigh in relief and head back to his place in the crowd. I, however, remain on the stage. No one had come to my rescue. I find Abria in the crowd and she stares at me with sad, green eyes. I give her a shake of my head and just manage to catch the word she mouths to me. Win. By this time the boy has reached the stage and has introduced himself as Terran. We shake hands and are taken into the justice building.


	2. Chapter 2

I am taken into the Justice Building, a place I had only seen from the outside. The inside is furnished well, with mirrors and paintings hanging on the walls. I am put into a small room with a window looking out into the city square. I see people milling around. Family members hugging and walking back to their homes, safe for another year. But not me. No, not me. Or my family for that matter. These weeks will be hard for them too. Watching me fight to the death on national television is not a very pleasant activity; at least Aden was saved. Just then my family walks in. "Oh, honey!" my mom says, wrapping her arms around me. She then starts to sob. This is where my mother really gets to me; I get this is hard on her, but really! I'm the one going to fight to my death. Aden sits next to me and holds my hand; trying to hold on to the last bit of time we have together. My father stands in the corner, staring at me, but saying nothing. Just then a Peacekeeper walks in and tells my family to leave. We exchange goodbyes and I see them walk out the door.

Abria walks in next. She hugs me, but doesn't cry like my mother did. We talk about what might happen, to me, to her, to my families. "You have to win," she says.

"I know... I know...," I trail off.

"No! You have to mean it!," she says, fire blazing in her eyes. Just then the Peacekeeper walks in a orders her out. "Win," are her final words to me and then she is gone.

I am taken to the train station and put on a couple good smiles for the cameras. Nothing like my real smiles, but why would I even want to smile. Terran is next to me the whole time, playing nice for the cameras. Waving, smiling, even winking a couple times. The cameras eat it up. I must look so bland and uncaring next to him. We are ushered into the train and then we are on the way to the Capitol.

I gasp as I enter the train. Even though I have spent my whole life building or decorating these trains, I have never been in a completely finished one before. It is truly a work of art: wood, glass, crystal. Terran and Becky appear beside me. "Its marvelous, isn't it," Becky says. "Now get washed up for dinner and meet me in the dining car in a couple of minutes." Terran and I head down a long hallway with thick green carpet and dark oak walls.

"Thank you," I say, cutting into the silence. He stares at me for a long moment, the understanding flashes over his face.

"Yeah... the look on your face was just awful. I had to do something," he says.

"But why,?" I press. " I don't even know you, and you sacrificed yourself for my brother."

"Because...," he trails off. Then he turns away and opens the nearest bedroom drawer and closes the door behind him.

My room is so big and marvelous. There are really now words to describe it. The whole room is painted a soft, glowing yellow that makes it look like the room is bathed in sunlight. I look out the window and see that we are just nearing the border of District 6. My home, I might not see it again. I sit at the window until we leave my district and then go and change. As I open the closet I am astounded by the amount of clothes and shoes and coats. The trip to the Capitol will only take 4 days at the most, but the amount of clothes they have provided me with would suggest that the trip would take a month. My family was pretty well off, but no one ever had as many clothes as this. I slip on a gray shirt and black pants, check my appearance in the mirror and head to the dining car.

I am greeted by Becky and Terran in the dining car. The dining car is even more fancy and outlandish than the rest of the train. I take a seat at the long glass table just as a man and a woman enter. They are Armida and Tito, District 6 victors. They are each about 30 or so years old and won the games in consecutive years, or so I'm told. Armida will be my mentor and Tito will be Terran's. Armida is small and tiny, like a bird. I wonder how she won her games, many of the competitors in the Arena, especially the Careers, who are 2 to 3 times her size. Tito looks like a giant next to her, but Tito looks like a giant next to anyone. Tito is about 6 ½ feet tall and is muscular. It is no surprise to see how he won his games. All he would have to do it get one good punch in and they would have been a goner.

They sit down at the table across from Terran and me and Becky takes her place at the head of the table. They stare at us for a couple moments and a look passes between them, one I can't read. Then a waitress brings out the meal. It is just a soup. I mean, soup is great, but I was expecting something a little more. After the soup comes plate after plate of bread, meat, cheese, and other dishes that I have no name for. We eat in an uncomfortable silence, you could hear a pin drop.

"So do either of you have any special talents,?" Armida says.

"No," says Terran, "unless you count building trains."

"I don't," says Tito. "What about you,?" he says, gesturing in my direction.

"Ummm, not really. I mean I can fight hand-to-hand pretty well and know a couple basic survival skills but other than that, no." I say, staring at my plate.

"Well then, we will just have to find something that you are good at," says Armida. "But in the meantime why don't you try to eat and stay hydrated, add a couple pounds before you go into the Arena, it can't hurt." Terran and I glance at each other and dig in to another plate of food.


	3. Chapter 3

After dinner Terran and I head off without saying a word. He's not really an open person. Its like the Games have already begun, like he is already shutting everyone around him out. I take Armida's advice and take a handful of rolls to my bedroom. Even though I am full to the point of bursting, I am paranoid about making sure that I do gain some weight before the Arena. I've watched the Games many times and seen countless tributes starve to death. Those of us that come from the poorer districts are mainly the kids that suffer from starvation. We come into the Arena underfed our whole lives...and well... it normally doesn't end. I will be the exception. Due to my mild work outs almost every day, I have muscles, not near to what the Careers have but they are there.

I step into the shower, which has so many buttons. Its insane. There are buttons for silly things like what would you like the water pressure to be. I hit random buttons and end up getting really hot water jetting at me from the shower head. I am then covered in orange-smelling bubbles. Lovely. After the shower I reach for a towel to dry off with, but it seems that the Capitol has thought of everything. I am dried off by a blast of warm air. I change out of my white dress and change into a white t-shirt and a pair of comfortable pants. Just then there is a knock on my door and Armida steps into the room. She has changed out of her fancy Reaping clothes and into a plain outfit, very much like mine. We both stare at each other, taking in the others true stature. While I'm not short, I am not excessively tall either. I stand out 5 feet 8 inches tall. Armida, on the other hand is now about 5 feet at the most.

She sits on my bed and motions for me to sit next to her. I do and she stares at me for a while. Then she says, "Once the stylist get a hold of you, you will look amazing." I blush, not used to complements from adults. At school, among kids my age, it was different. To be complemented by a victor no less. "You hair and your eyes contrast perfectly, black as a raven;s wing and blue as ice."

"Thank you," I stammer out, still stunned.

"Do you remember Finnick Odair, from District 4," she asks.

"Yes," I say, wondering where she is going with this. Finnick and I are completely different. He came from a Career district, so he had a good body. He also had the most gorgeous face, tanned and somehow innocent. Once he got in the Arena though, he was far from it. He killed many of his competitors with a deadly trident. District 4's industry is fishing so the trident is something that he used all the time, even before he started to train like all the other Careers.

"I can see you becoming like him, not so much of the brute strength that he possesses, but in the way that his appearances can sway people to sponsor him." she states. Now it makes sense why Armida would bring up my beauty. I never really thought about how my beauty would help me in the Games. In fact I thought that it would case people to be less quick to sponsor me, with all the stuff about most pretty people being complete idiots.

"Oh, I never really thought about it before, I mean, I really thought it would be a disadvantage."

"No, it might just be one of your greatest assets," she says and then leaves silently from the room. I sit on my bed, staring at the door. Armida might of just given me some good information, but how it the world would it matter how pretty I am. While I'm pretty when I am dressed up or just during everyday activities, I look awful when I do anything outside. Abria and I would joke about it whenever we would go and train. Abria. I miss her so much.

I think of my family, all at home, and probably worried out of their minds. I bet my life that Aden doesn't sleep a wink at all tonight. I lay down on the bed and let the tears that I was holding back during the Reaping fall down my face, marring the amazing beauty the Armida said would be my saving grace. There is this lump in my throat that refuses to go away. I cry for a long time and for a lot of reasons: my family, my friends, and the possibility that I could be dead within two weeks. After a while, when I stop crying, I get up and try to wash the tears from my face. I'm not very successful but I' m not expecting any more visitors tonight.

I crawl into bed and turn out the lights. The funny thing is I'm tired, but I can't seem to turn my mind off. I feel so many things, and all at once. Hate at the Capital, for doing this to all of us. Love, for my family and friends. Longing for everything that I will never have if I die in the Arena, which is not that crazy of an idea. Hope and determination. I might have a shot. The only way that I will be able to win these Games will not be my looks, like Armida said. I have to show people that I'm smart and that I never give up. If I die in the Arena I want to go out undefeated. I refuse to beg for mercy for my own life. With these thoughts steeling my resolve, I fall into an uneasy sleep.


	4. Chapter 4

I wake up the next morning to sunlight streaming through the window next to my bed. My eyes are no longer puffy and my face bears no marks of the tears of last night. Thank God. I can't have anyone knowing that I had totally broken down. That is not the way I want the other tributes, or more importantly, the sponsors. The sponsors are everyone's lifeline in the Arena. If you are starving or cold, a sponsor could send you some food or some matches. Sponsor's are extremely rich, due to the fact that everything cost a lot of money to send items into the Arena.

I get up, brush my hair, my teeth, and put on some comfortable clothes. I pull my hair into a loose ponytail and take one last look in the mirror. I look beautiful, as always. I head down to the dining car and find Terran and Armida already eating. I sit down at the wooden table and serve myself a plate full of food. We eat in silence for a couple of minutes. Then Armida says, "Did you guys sleep well?" Terran and I glance at each other.

"Yeah," I say. Terran nods in agreement. Even if we hadn't gotten enough sleep no one would of fessed up anyways. Just then Tito walks in with a sober expression on his face.

"We are almost to the Capital," he says in a deep voice. I inwardly groan. I'm not ready for this, I'm not ready I think to myself. Just then, we are pulling into the train station and into the heart of the Capital.

We disembark off the train and I take a look at the massive crowd around me. There are so many people, so many colors, my eyes could hardly taken it all in. People yelling my name and cheering. Then I shake my head to clear it. Why an I so in awe of this place when it's people enjoy watching children murder each other. I want to hide away from all the cameras and people. I manage a few smiles for the cameras and then we are whisked into the Training Center. We are led to a set of some devices called elevators. We never had any back in District 6, but they are basically metal cars that take you upwards to higher floors in a building.

Becky shows us around the whole entire floor. Everything is so beautiful and so perfect. Seems kinda ironic though, these people seem so civilized, but in fact, they are the ones sending 24 kids to die in the Arena. I am taken to a room that I am told that will be my home for the next week or so. The whole room is probably bigger than my whole house back in District 6. It is furnished with a plush bed stacked high with soft blankets. There is also a massive bathroom off to the side of the room. If I thought that my room on the train was overdone, I can't imagine what this room would be. Overdone is to simple a word.

I change out of my comfortable clothes and put on something a little more formal for dinner. Even Becky would be impressed with how much effort I put into making myself look presentable for dinner. I shower, put on a shimmery blue dress that matches my eyes, and put on black flats. My hair is naturally poker straight so I curl it. I look presentable to say the least. Then Becky is calling me for dinner. I take on last look at myself in the mirror and head down to the dinning room.

Everyone is already seated when I walk in. I can feel Becky look me up and down and she nods approving my outfit I guess. Terran is looking at me too. I guess he has never seen me all dolled up and he looks at me in surprise. He is dressed in a nice shirt and pants. Lovely. I sit down and this amazing soup with bits of corn and carrot is served. It taste amazing. I drain my bowl and then dish after dish arrives. There are so many I am full by the third course. After two more courses, dinner is over. Both Terran and I look at little green, to say the least. I excuse myself and start to head back to my room, when Terran stands up and follows me to my room. "What do you want?" I ask, my voice sounding slightly annoyed.

"You look amazing tonight," he says. I glance over him, he doesn't look too shabby himself, but there is no way that I would tell him that.

"Haven't you ever seen a girl before?" I ask. "We tend to look good almost 99.9% of the time!" He comment shocks me though. I mean, I look good and all, but I really didn't think Terran of all people would notice. He is so quiet and focused. I turn to go further down the hallway when his voice stops me.

"You remind me of my sister." I stop dead in my tracks. It was a few years ago, I think. I was probably 8 at the most. The girl tribute from District 6 looked very similar to me. That can't be his sister, could it? I remember how she died. She made it to the top 5, but was jumped by the boy tribute from 1. She died in a pool of her own blood. My heart goes out to Terran. It must have been awful to watch his sister die like that. I see the pain in his eyes and know that he has really never recovered.

"I'm sorry," I say and walk into my room locking the door behind me, but feeling his blue as ice eyes stare at me through the door.


	5. Chapter 5

**Sorry that I haven't updated in a while... stupid school finals! I'm back though so hope you enjoy even though it's a short chapter!**

I sink down to the floor as soon as I shut the door. I had totally forgotten about his sister, it must be so awful for him, after seeing his sister go through the Games and then to be a player in them himself. My heart truly goes out to Terran, to his sister, to his whole family.

I change out of my nice dinner clothes and into something more comfortable and sit down on the bed, eyes closed. The days ahead of me are long and hard, even before I get to the Arena. I will have to play nice and be charming all the time as people judge me, my looks, my strength, my mind. They will bet how long I will live and when I will die. The one thing that they don't control is me, well, at least not all of me. I wish that I could be bigger than the Capital, bigger than theses Games, but everyone knows that you can't outplay the Capital. With these somewhat comforting thoughts, I slip into darkness.

The next morning I get up at around 7. I have always been an early riser and a very light sleeper. I can't say the same for Terran though. On the way to the dining room, I see Becky banging on his door, rage written plainly all over her extremely made-up face. "Oh, thank God you're up. If you were as deep a sleeper as Terran is...well I would probably cry," says Becky. Leave it to Becky to take a mild situation and make it a full blown catastrophe. As my answer I move past her and bang on the door with my foot, it works so much better than you're hands. The sound seems to echo around the entire floor.

"What?," Terran says, appearing from his room, looking like he just rolled out of bed, which he probably did. I leave Becky to explain everything to Terran and head down to the dining room, my original destination. When I get there the table is filled with food, food, and more food. There are rolls, eggs, and other things that I have no name for. I fill up my plate, but careful not to eat too much, I can't afford to get sick at training today. After a while, Terran, Becky, Tito, and Armida join me at the table.

"Ruka, take it easy on the physical stuff. Looks can be deceiving and if people think that you are useless, then they won't think of you as a threat," Armida says. Her words make sense, but I don't want people to think that I'm weak, I'm strong. I nod my head, hoping that she doesn't suspect my real plan. Tito pulls Terran aside and gives him a pep talk of sorts.

"Come on! If we don't hurry you will be late for training," Becky says. Terran and I listen while she gives us instructions on how to get to the Training Center and then we are herded into the elevator and we descend down, towards the Training Center

-**Thanks for everyone who reviews, favorites, etc. :)**


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